The fashion designer, 46, shares a close-knit bond with kids, Damon II, 26, Ava, 17, and Tallulah, 9, who he says take after their father in many ways. “They all could dance, they’re all fresh, they’re all funny, they’re all witty. They all look at things from a different perspective,” he told Us at the Fingerprint Communications office in Beverly Hills in August. “I always feel like either I’m crazy and the rest of the world is cool, or I’m cook and the rest of the world is crazy, but it’s almost like where we embrace different thinking, you know what I’m saying? I don’t ever want to think like the masses. I don’t ever want to do what everyone else does. I don’t ever want to wear what everybody else wears. I embrace having a point of view. I embrace being different, so I like the fact that my children are outgoing, they speak what they feel, they’re not ever embarrassed, none of those things.”

The entertainment mogul added that he feels protective over his daughters, who he shares with ex-wife Rachel Roy. “I raised them thinking that men are supped to do everything for them because that’s the kind of man I want them to have, so I believe the man you are to your daughters is the man that they’re gonna want, the man they’re gonna end up with, so I gotta be a good dad,” he explained. “I have no choice. I have to be that dude. I have to be a gentleman at all times cause I want them to only be used to gentleman.”

While chatting with Us, Dash also opened up about his former friendship with Roc-a-Fella Records cofounder Jay-Z. While the producer does miss his friendship with the 4:44 rapper, the two are in a a good place. “I do miss the friendship. We were good friends. On a human level, of course we were friends, you miss the friendship. It was a camaraderie, we were both fighting for the same thing. There was ideals. I do miss those ideals — being around people that are honest and, you know, will do anything,” he said. “[But as] you evolve, men ain’t supposed to be wanting to hang out with other men as they get older. They’re supposed to hang out with their girl and their family, so it has to happen regardless. But you still miss high school, you still miss camp, but I don’t want to go back to it.”